UNC Global Women’s Health (GWH) is a unique group of clinicians, researchers and public health professionals working to improve the health of women in the world’s poorest countries. Driven by outcomes and intensely practical, the majority of our diverse staff live full-time in Africa.
We are not afraid to go after the big problems (e.g., maternal mortality, AIDS in women and children, cervical cancer, obstetric fistula), and we believe big problems can be solved. We believe firmly that real solutions come only by working side-by-side with our African partners. Collectively, we have raised over $200 million in funding for our work from the US government and private foundation sources. Our ultimate purpose is to make discoveries and implement programs that will substantially and measurably improve the health of women living in the world’s poorest countries.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey Stringer
Professor & Division Director, Global Women’s Health
Dr. Stringer is based in Chapel Hill and holds appointments in both the School of Medicine (OB-GYN) and the School of Public Health (Epidemiology). Between 2001 and 2012, he lived in Lusaka, Zambia. His research focuses on prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, clinical epidemiology, and obstetrical outcomes.Learn more.
Postcards from the Field
Carla Chibwesha (second from the right) at the University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health, with three PhD candidates supported by the UNC-UNZA-Wits Partnership for HIV and Reproductive Women’s Health. Twaambo Hamoonga-Nkweendenda, Andrew Kumwenda, and Moses Simubeye (left to right) comprise the program’s first cohort. All are current faculty at the University of Zambia and have returned to Lusaka to conduct their dissertation research.
Friday Saidi, Ben Chi, and Wilbroad Mutale (left to right) in front of the maternity unit at the Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Dr. Saidi is the in-country lead for Tonse Padmozi 2, a pilot trial of adherence support for antiretroviral therapy (for HIV-positive women) and pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis (for HIV-negative women) in antenatal settings. Funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, this project has ongoing activities in both Malawi and Zambia.
The UNC LABOR Study team in Ghana in early January to meet with colleagues at the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry. Front row: Dr. Joni Price, Assistant Professor, UNC, Dr. Samuel Oppong, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and University and Prof Margaret Lartey, Dean, both at the University of Ghana School of Medicine.
Faculty from UNC and the University of Zambia convened a technical meeting on primary HIV prevention during pregnancy and breastfeeding in September 2018 (Lusaka, Zambia). Nearly 30 scientific and policy experts joined from Zambia, Malawi, and the US to review ongoing work in the field. In addition, the MP3 study team presented results from the project’s formative phase and discussed how findings would inform the design of a future combination HIV prevention strategy. This meeting was supported via grant funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Groesbeck Parham (professor of obstetrics and gynecology, UNC) and Dr. Samson Chisele (consultant, University Teaching Hospital) outside the operating theaters at the Women and Newborn Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia.
Queen Tembo, a community health worker, gives a health education talk at the University Teaching Hospital morning antenatal clinic. These talks focus on nutrition, problems in pregnancy, labor symptoms/signs, infant care, and breastfeeding to pregnant and postpartum women.
Dr. Gertrude Mutharika, Her Excellency the First Lady of Malawi, officially opens the Maternity Waiting Home (MWH) at Kasungu District Hospital. Before its construction, more than 100 waiting mothers were sleeping in tents erected outside the maternity ward. Utilization of the MWH has been at more than 100% since its inception. Construction of this facility was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as part of the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood in Malawi.